Thursday, April 23, 2020
Workers facing distress due to the COVID-19 lockdown continue to find relief, thanks to the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).
According to the Employment and Labour Department, the fund has made progress towards the COVID-19 Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) while ramping up normal benefits to ensure that workers are not inconvenienced during the lockdown.
Thursday, April 23, 2020
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has provided more details on the second set of measures that are aimed at assisting individuals and businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There is a critical need for government interventions to assist with job retention and support businesses that may be experiencing significant distress,” the National Treasury said in a statement on Thursday.
Thursday, April 23, 2020
Life in South Africa will gradually begin to return to normal from next month, with government steadily easing the COVID-19 lockdown regulations, albeit under stringent stipulations.
From 1 May, government will implement a risk-adjusted strategy aimed at easing the current lockdown restrictions. The decision was taken during a National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) meeting on Thursday.
This was revealed by President Cyril Ramaphosa during an address to the nation on COVID-19, on Thursday evening.
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
A total of 606 462 employees who have lost their income as a result of the lockdown imposed to mitigate against the spread of COVID-19 will receive their benefit from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).
To date, the UIF has received just over 55 268 applications from employers representing about 1 601 767 employees. In total, the UIF has over 1 800 000 employers registered on its database representing more than 8 million workers.
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development requests all interested wholesalers, distributors or agribusiness outlets to provide a list of specific agricultural production inputs they have in stock.
This, according to the department, will assist in the emergency procurement of these inputs to enable smallholder and communal farmers to complete the current production cycle.
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Stats SA today released the results of a rapid response survey conducted with businesses during the lockdown.
Businesses were asked how the current crisis affected their operations in the two-week period from 30 March to 13 April 2020.
More than 700 businesses in the formal sector responded to the survey, outlining the pandemic’s impact on turnover, trading, workforce, imports and exports, purchases, prices, and business survival.
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Government has announced a massive social relief and economic support package of R500 billion which amounts to around 10% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to mitigate against the blow of COVID-19 in the country.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the intervention as the country saw a rise of COVID-19 cases to 3465 with 58 deaths recorded as of Tuesday.
Thursday, April 16, 2020
In a bid to streamline and fast track COVID-19 related procurement processes, the Gauteng Health Department has urged suppliers of personal protective equipment (PPE) to register on its database.
Through a portal by the provincial Health Department, suppliers can indicate to the department what items they can provide.
“Attention is drawn to the National Treasury Instruction Note 8 of 2019-2020, which suppliers must familiarise themselves with, as it gives a guide on prices.
Thursday, April 16, 2020
If you are stuck at home with a burst pipe, you can now call your plumber to come fix it. This is just one of the changes made to regulations governing the extended COVID-19 lockdown.
The announcement was made by the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who was addressing the country on Thursday.
“Today, we’re not coming with many new regulations. We’re extending the regulations that exist because the lockdown was extended,” she explained.
Thursday, April 16, 2020
South Africa has expressed concern and alarm at the announcement by the President of the United States of America (USA) to cut funding to the World Health Organisation (WHO) with immediate effect.
“South Africa is particularly alarmed that the decision is made amid a global health crisis that requires a full-capacity World Health Organisation to provide support in combatting the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.
Thursday, April 16, 2020
Work continues to map South Africa’s future - with Cabinet asking all clusters to work together to produce one consolidated document on key priorities regarding the country’s economic recovery plan that will used post the COVID-19 national lockdown.
The call was made during a virtual Special Cabinet Meeting held on Wednesday to discuss the socio-economic recovery plan, post the COVID-19 national lockdown.
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
National Treasury has called on compliant essential personal protective equipment (PPEs) suppliers to direct their offers to the department’s Project Management Office (PMO).
PPE is much-needed by government, as the State intensifies its effort to curb the spread of COVID-19.
In a statement on Wednesday, National Treasury, in support of the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, said a support team, which is responsible for coordinating the process exclusively for the identified commodities, will assess the submissions.
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
The Parliamentary Committee on Small Business Development has called on all municipalities to assist eligible informal traders to comply with their COVID-19 trading regulations.
This follows the directions issued by Small Business Development Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, which are in line with the amendments to the regulations on the COVID-19 lockdown. These were published in the Government Gazette by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, on 2 April 2020.
Tuesday, April 7, 2020
The Department of Tourism has encouraged eligible businesses to apply for the COVID-19 Tourism Relief Fund.
The R200 million Tourism Relief Fund has been established as an intervention to mitigate against the impact of COVID-19 in the tourism sector.
“We acknowledge the difficulties experienced by businesses during this time, hence the need to support the industry and communities to cope with the negative effects of this pandemic.
Monday, April 6, 2020
The KwaZulu-Natal province has created a One -Stop Business Portal to assist entrepreneurs to weather the wrath of the Coronavirus on the economy.
The portal, which can be accessed on www.tikzn.co.za/support-desk, is an initiative of the Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA) through its entity Trade and Industry KZN.
The portal seeks to assist entrepreneurs log enquiries about their business during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Monday, April 6, 2020
The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development will from Wednesday, 8 April, accept applications from distressed small-scale farmers, who need financial relief from the impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19).
This follows last week's announcement of the R1.2 billion COVID-19 disaster fund intervention in the agricultural sector, as a response to assist small-scale farmers.
Monday, March 30, 2020
Social grant payments for the elderly and people with disabilities is in full swing as South Africa enters Day 4 of the 21-day lockdown to curb COVID-19.
In preparation for the lockdown, social security agency - SASSA - announced that grants for the elderly and people with disabilities will be paid from 30 - 31 March 2020.
The Social security agency’s decision to pay grants earlier is in response to the State of National Disaster, as announced by President Ramaphosa on 15 March 2020.
Sunday, March 29, 2020
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni on Sunday announced exceptional tax measures to counter the impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
“The Minister of Finance has announced the following exceptional tax measures as part of the fiscal package outlined by President Cyril Ramaphosa on 23 March 2020 in his speech on the Escalation of Measures to Combat COVID-19,” said the Ministry of Finance.
